She was no longer young, she knew, even by advanced standards. The evil that had devoured her did little to help, and she was fading.
Her time was passing, and unless they could finally find a handle of Power, none would survive the ravages of time. She pulled her black cloak closer about her and narrowed the pale, misty eyes
that glittered with malice.

"Mistress…" hissed a faint, sibilant voice. Before, she did not have to use magic to hear Lighteater. Oh yes, they were all fading.
"We have a prisoner for you." Nidela barely had to allow them access before Lighteater and Venomheart appeared in the room. Their faces were already no more than mist, and their green skin was
dull, but they would suffice.

"Dela?" a small voice came from between them. She looked down to see a bound girl kneeling on the floor. How dare the vermin speak
her name? How did she even know her name? The girl looked up. "Don't you remember, Dela? Don't you?" Yes, she did remember. She didn't want to, but the memories lurked in her mind, and flooded in
with surprising earnestness…

***

"Sta-arr!" shrieked a piercing, wailing voice. Starr fumbled the spell-thread she was working on, and watched the whole, messy ball
of spells slip through her hands and vanish. An hour of work…gone! The novice light faerie spun around to see Nidela, her tormentor, sitting in a carved-wood chair and smirking. "Why did you do
that?" she screamed. "That was my homework!"

Nidela smirked, toying with a strand of pale blond hair. Her large, amber eyes were just a little meaner than Starr's astonished blue
ones, and her smooth, bleached-white skin and slightly turned-up nose worked in sharp contrast to thin, bright red lips. "Do I care? Learn some concentration, junior. I outrank you, so you'd best
look to yourself."

"It's too bad we're roommates then, isn't it?" Nidela replied coolly. "And besides, I wouldn't, as you put it, torment you if you
weren't such a tale-bearing sneak. Toodles." She sailed out of the room and into the hall while Starr stared after her. If looks could kill, Nidela might not have made it out alive.

As soon as Nidela exited, a gaggle of other seniors surrounded her. "We heard Starr shriek in there," piped up Elaine. Elaine was
actually the most sensible of Nidela's friends, though she didn't look it. Everything about her was pale-the almost white hair, faded green eyes, and bone-white skin. Now, she wrinkled her nose in
imitation of Starr. "It's NOT funn-ny!!!" Everyone burst out laughing.

"Coming with us to Meridell?" asked Tara. "It'll be so much fun, you know."

"No, I think I'll finish my book," Nidela said absently. She didn't know how that book had slipped past the tough old monitors in the
library, but it was absolutely fascinating! It was all about how to harness the power of pure evil. She had barely even started yet, but what she had read was intriguing. Even know, she remembered
the words of the first passage…

An account by (a name had been blurred by a spot of ink) of the true Power.

The power of Three is underestimated in all lore. Indeed, this is the instrumental number of the true Power. Therefore, there are
three ways to acquire that power-first, to kill off the Ruler (which will destroy you utterly if you are not strong enough), to have the power in you from the beginning (that line has ended) or the
third way, the most terrible, yet the only way to access and hold the True Power for all time…

Nidela was jerked out of her reverie by a babble of protest from the cloud of seniors. books were useless, for bookworms and for old
professors, blah, blah, blah. Why did she even keep these useless bubbleheads as friends anyways? Ignoring their protests, she headed off to the library, got a passcard from the matronly
librarians, and retrieved the book from a dusty shelf near the back of the room.

"…A witch and two people are needed. These two people must know hate and the pulse of evil, and the witch too. Even for a heartbeat,
if the magic triangle is formed, at any time the witch can access the True Power and contain the magic through the two people. While in the triangle the magic shall be strongest. Who can stand
against the Power of Three?"

On and on it went from there. Nidela was spellbound, even though she didn't understand the next bits. They were all about the lurking
evil and the power of pure hate and fear, with stories to chill even the most brave witch's bones to the marrow. She rolled up the scroll and placed it back on the shelf. And then the alarm went
off.

Nidela spun around. Right there, in the library, professors were filing directly towards her! They appeared to be escorting something
that throbbed with a malice that Nidela could feel clearly. Was it the creature, or was it the influence of the book?

"YOU!" shrieked the elderly Professor, Strom. "How DARE you? You bring ruin upon our heads, this very Academy! You..you Dark spy!"
Nidela gaped. She could clearly see that Strom's eyes were spell-glazed. Looking around, she saw Starr in the watching crowd. As their eyes met, Starr smiled. It was not a pleasant smile.

The professors began to slowly file towards her. As they spread out, she saw that there were two creatures there. Powerful, lurking,
monstrous and hideous creatures that only vaguely took the form of a watching, evil-minded boy, and a hulking, bloated once-boy, As she met their red eyes, she suddenly knew what malice was, what
hate was, what it was like to walk alone and scorned under the harsh light of the cold and unforgiving moon. To be blamed and disfigured, to feel the hate of others and learn to hate in
return…

Her feet moved of their own accord. For a split second a triangle was formed in the midst of the circle of witches. Elaine and the
others were pushing through the crowd, shouting her name. The explosion rocked the whole Academy. A despairing scream was cut short by falling rubble. Nidela and her new minions were gone. The book
was buried forever, and that was a good thing. For every word it said was true. Against pure evil only the Spheres united could stand, and that chance had been decimated long ago.

***

Nidela stared at the now full-fledged girl. A deep scar ran from her hairline to partway down her throat, and the once smooth flesh
was bumpy and permanently raw pink, but she knew her. It was Elaine. Elaine looked up, and for the first time in countless years their eyes met. For once in that dark tower of horror, hope flared
in a prisoner's eyes. Hope…and a strange sense of forgiving joy.

Hastily, Nidela assembled the magic triangle and looked down at the prisoner with cold eyes as she felt the first jolts of magic
begin to flow. Even before she began, Elaine began to scream.